Prior to the age of smart phones and mobile tablets, the need for recording an audio message, a video message, or any other media message while on the move was not high. One method to record an audio message was to make a phone call, speak on the phone, and record a user's voice on the other end of the line, for example, when using answering machines and voicemails, or when speaking on a recorded line. However, as technology developed and smart phones became popular, many smart phone applications came up with the need to record audio messages and other media messages. For example, two communication modes for recording audio were developed, that is, a push to talk (PTT) communication mode and a tap to start (TTS) communication mode.
In the push to talk communication mode, a user pushes a button on the user's communication device, and keeps the button pressed. The user records his or her message while the button is pushed down. Upon release of the button, the communication device terminates recording and saves the message. This method provides the user with one click access to recording a short media message. The other communication mode, that is, the tap to start communication mode, requires a user to first click a start button or an initiation button on the communication device to start the recording process. In this case, the user clicks, that is, taps and quickly releases the button, at which time the communication device initiates recording of the media message. The user then has to click a stop button on the communication device to stop the recording. After clicking the stop button, the communication device terminates the recording and saves the recorded media message. There is also a variation of the tap to start communication mode, where a user is not required to click the stop button on the communication device. Instead, the communication device performs voice activity detection to determine when the user has stopped speaking, and at this time the communication device automatically terminates the recording and saves the audio message.
The push to talk communication mode allows a user to record a short audio message quickly, with a single press of a button on the communication device; that is, all the user is required to do is press the button and then release the button. However, in the push to talk communication mode, the user finds it difficult to record a long audio message. The user is forced to interact with the communication device throughout the recording of the audio message, which makes the process for recording long audio messages inconvenient. While recording a long audio message, the user's finger may inadvertently slip off the “push to talk” button on the communication device, which would indicate to the communication device that the user wants to terminate the recording, thereby causing the communication device to abruptly terminate the recording of the audio message even though the user intended to continue recording the audio message. It is also not feasible for a user, while pressing a button to place a smart phone at his/her ear to speak, forcing him/her to use a speakerphone.
The tap to start communication mode can be convenient for recording long audio messages. The tap to start communication mode allows the user to tap a button on the communication device, and have both his/her hands free while recording an audio message, for example, a one minute audio message, a song being heard at a concert, etc. The tap to start communication mode allows a user to have minimal or no friction while recording a long audio message. That is, tapping a single button on the communication device to initiate the recording and then tapping a button again only to terminate the recording allows the user to not have to interact with the communication device while recording the audio message. However, in the tap to start communication mode, it is inconvenient to record short audio messages. Since the tap to start communication mode requires the use of two user interactions, it is difficult for the user to record a short audio message. A short audio message, for example, “Hi!” would require the user to first tap the “tap to start” button on the communication device to initiate recording, then speak “Hi!”, and then immediately tap the same button again or a different button to terminate the recording.
In some solutions, options are provided in a “Settings” menu to allow a user to select which communication mode he or she would prefer using for recording a media message. However, the user would still have the inconvenience of frequently switching between these options. Consider an example where a user is in the middle of a lengthy back and forth conversation with one of his/her friends, and is simultaneously asking a few other friends if they are available to go to the movies. In order to evade the problems created by the tap to start communication mode and the push to talk communication mode, the user would have to continuously interrupt recording of audio messages by navigating to the “Settings” menu on the user's communication device and switching the communication mode to the communication mode the user would like to use for the next interaction.
Hence, there is a long felt but unresolved need for a computer implemented method and system that determines a communication mode for recording a media message, for example, an audio message, a video message, an audiovisual message, a multimedia message, etc., on a user' communication device, by automatically deducing the user's intent while recording the media message.